Gender Pay Disparity in the Workplace

Since the beginning of time, women and men have learned that one cannot co-exist without the other. Unfortunately, there was a time when men felt that women were inferior to them; this mentality was very common in the workplace. This male chauvinistic way of thinking does not entitle men to believe that their work ability is superior to that of women. Although women's work ability is equal to that of men, yet they are not equally compensated. In this present day in time, there should not be any type of gender disparity in the workplace.

Over the years society classified librarians, nurses, childcare workers, and secretaries as jobs for women. Men on the other hand were known to work as construction workers, truck drivers, firefighters, custodians, sportscasters, and stock clerks. These were unjustifiable labels placed on both men and women. Now that people can work, jobs that are no longer gender specific unfortunately, there is still gender disparity in pay. In most cases, women have experienced more pay disparity in the workplace than men have.

Pay equity is when someone receives equal pay for an equal value of work. In order to reduce and possibly eliminate gender pay disparity in the workplace the government created the Pay Equity Act. One of the provisions of this act states, "Where a female job class is found to be equal or comparable value to a male job class, the female job class must be provided with at least the same compensation as the male job class."(www.payequity.gov). In efforts to continue the fight in breaking down the barrier of gender pay disparity new legislation has been introduced. On January 29, 2009 President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Lilly Ledbetter was a dedicated worker who performed her job duties as well as her male counterparts (www.whitehouse.gov). For 20 years Ms. Ledbetter was unfairly compensated. Her hard work was not in vain. She became a beacon of hope for women in the workplace. Because of her courage, she deserved the honor of the new Fair Pay Restoration Act to bear her name.

Gender pay disparity is very unfair and highly unethical. It has no place in today's workforce. Men and women are both capable of performing the same job tasks with equal regularity; therefore, they should be eligible to receive equal pay. Hopefully in the near future the barrier of pay disparity between men and women will permanently be torn down.